US Appeals Court Refuses to Halt Oklahoma Execution

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to halt the execution of an Oklahoma death row inmate who claims he is insane.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down the ruling Thursday in the case of 56-year-old Garry Thomas Allen.

Allen is scheduled for lethal injection Nov. 6. Allen was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the November 1986 shooting death of his fiancee, 42-year-old Lawanna Gail Titsworth, outside a children's day care center in Oklahoma City.

Last month, a federal judge rejected Allen's request for a hearing on his claim that he is mentally incompetent and ineligible for the death penalty. Allen's defense attorney, Randy Bauman of the Federal Public Defender's Office, declined to comment on the appellate court's decision.